Getting noticed

The Xiao Family's old madam sat in a grand armchair in the main hall, turning a string of sandalwood prayer beads in her hand. She had worked through more than half the string. The beads had a thick, glossy patina; she had brought them home from the Great Xiangguo Temple more than a decade ago. She moved through them slowly, sliding them past one by one. Two people sat opposite her. On the left was Xiao Wenshan, the Xiao Family's eldest master and Xiao Luo's full elder brother, a fifth-rank bureau director in the Ministry of Works who had gone ten years without a promotion. On the right was his wife, Zhou-shi, wearing a jujube-red silk blouse. Xiao Wenshan held a teacup and took a sip. Zhou-shi dabbed the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief, looking from the old madam to her husband.

"Mother, you summoned us because..." Xiao Wenshan spoke first.

The old madam set the Buddhist prayer beads on the table. The sandalwood beads struck the tabletop with a dull knock, much heavier than the sound they had made tapping against one another. "The route through the empress is closed to us."

Xiao Wenshan's hand paused around his teacup. Of course he knew it was closed. He had known years ago, when the Ministry of Personnel had blocked his promotion. Beside him, Zhou-shi sighed softly without speaking.

"What about through His Majesty?" Zhou-shi ventured. That route was even more firmly closed.

The Buddhist prayer beads rolled a little on the table, and the old madam pinned them beneath her palm. "There is only one route left now. The Fourth Prince is still young and has no concubines at his side. Think about it. When princes in the palace reach the proper age, bedchamber maids are assigned to them, but the Fourth Prince still has no one. It is only a matter of time. If a woman could get herself noticed by the Fourth Prince and win his affection, even as a mere concubine, the Xiao Family could regain some breathing room with His Majesty."

Xiao Wenshan set down his teacup and looked at the old madam. He had expected his mother to say something else, not this. Zhou-shi's eyes brightened briefly, then dimmed again. "How old is the Fourth Prince? He is still a child."

"What do you know? A year or two sooner or later, there will always be people waiting. Once we have someone there, she can pass along a word. Once a word gets through, His Majesty will notice. Men are most easily swayed when they are lying in bed." The old madam picked up the Buddhist prayer beads again.

Zhou-shi opened her mouth but did not dare say anything more. Xiao Wenshan remained silent for a long while, then lifted his teacup and took a sip. The cold tea went down his throat, bitter indeed. He set the cup on the table. "Who do you have in mind?"

"That concubine-born daughter in your second branch. She is fifteen this year. Her looks are not bad, and she has a docile temperament." Xiao Wenshan nodded without replying. The conversation did not last much longer. Having said what she wanted to say, the old madam resumed turning her Buddhist prayer beads and waved the two of them away. Xiao Wenshan rose, and Zhou-shi followed suit. They paid their respects to the old madam and withdrew. As they walked along the covered corridor, Zhou-shi tugged at Xiao Wenshan's sleeve and lowered her voice. "Master, the Fourth Prince is an empress-born prince. Would our family ever get a turn to provide someone to serve him?"

Xiao Wenshan did not answer. He looked at the old scholar tree in the courtyard and stood there for a while before saying, "Mother has her own plans." Then he turned and headed for his study. Zhou-shi stood in the corridor, watching her husband's retreating back, and tugged down her cuffs. She remembered when she had first married into the Xiao Family. Every day, someone came to the gates bearing calling cards, and at festivals and the New Year, gifts from the palace would be carried inside. How many years had it been? The gifts were gone, and so were the calling cards. They had even dismissed one gatekeeper, leaving only an old one who dozed by the gates all day. She stood in the corridor for a long while before turning back to her own courtyard.

The concubine-born daughter of the Xiao Family's second branch was named Xiao Wan. She lived in the most out-of-the-way room in the western side courtyard. Her window faced a corner of the rear garden wall, and she saw little sunlight all year round. Her mother had been the second master's bedchamber maid and had died giving birth to her. She had grown up with her wet nurse. No one in the Xiao Family treated her as a proper young lady. When the old madam said she was to go before the Fourth Prince, Xiao Wan kept her head lowered, her fingers twisted together inside her sleeves. She dared neither refuse nor agree, merely giving a slight nod. Her wet nurse watched from beside her, her eyes reddening, but did not dare make a sound.

The Xiao Family began making arrangements in secret. First, they sought out old contacts who had once had dealings with the palace and asked about the Fourth Prince's temperament. The information they brought back gave them much to turn over in their minds. The Fourth Prince was the most favored, cared little for formalities, and was often at His Majesty's side. He was indeed easy to talk to, but the difficulty lay in the fact that everyone around him had been selected by His Majesty. His study companion was General Zhenwei's eldest legitimate son, his personal eunuch was De'an's adopted son, and even the palace maid who fed his rabbits had been assigned by the empress herself. The Xiao Family spent several nights discussing just how to place someone before the Fourth Prince, but no one could come up with a good way.

Word eventually reached the palace. A purchasing eunuch under De'an had overheard something outside. The eunuch had gone to a silk shop in the south of the city to buy fabric for winter clothes and heard someone in the neighboring teahouse say, "The Xiao Family has been asking about the Fourth Prince lately." He returned to the palace with the fabric and reported those exact words to De'an. De'an was cleaning his fly whisk in the corridor when he heard this, and the whisk in his hand paused. "Understood. There is no need to spread it around." The young eunuch acknowledged the order and withdrew.

De'an stood in the corridor and shifted the fly whisk to his other arm. He recalled that over the years, plenty of consorts in the harem had set their sights on His Majesty, and some had set their sights on the Crown Prince, but this was the first time anyone had targeted the Fourth Prince. He settled the whisk in the crook of his arm, then turned to attend His Majesty in the West Warm Pavilion. He did not intend to tell His Majesty about this just yet. The Xiao Family had only conceived the idea; nothing had come of it yet. But he would keep a closer eye on things and tighten the net around the Fourth Prince a little more. He would have to summon A Ping and give him a few more instructions, and Chun He needed a warning too. From now on, anyone delivering things to Yuning Hall would undergo an extra check.